This disclosure relates to methods and systems for producing materials having surface-active particles incorporated therein, and more particularly, to maximizing the surface-activity of particles capable of being preferentially heated.
It is known that certain particles can be used to add performance properties to materials in different forms such as gases, liquids, and solids. These particles can have properties that are suitable for odor adsorption, moisture management, ultraviolet light protection, chemical protection, bio-hazard protection, chemical warfare protection, fire retardance, antibacterial protection, antiviral protection, antifungal protection, antimicrobial protection, and other factors, and combinations thereof.
These particles can provide such properties because they are “active”. That is, the surface of these particles may be active. Surface active particles are active because they have the capacity to adsorb or trap substances, including substances that may themselves be a solid, liquid, and/or gas, for example, pollen, water, butane, and ambient air. Active particles have an adsorptive property because each particle has a multitude of pores (e.g., pores on the order of thousands, tens of thousand, or hundreds of thousands per particle). It is these pores that provide the particle or, more particularly, the surface of the particle with its activity (e.g., capacity to adsorb). For example, an active particle such as activated carbon can adsorb a substance (e.g., butane) by trapping the substance in the pores of the activated carbon.
Exposing the active particles to a substance can reduce or permanently negate the activity of the active particles by blocking or inhibiting the pores, thus reducing the surface activity of the active particles. That is, once the pores are blocked or inhibited with a substance, those blocked or inhibited pores may be prevented from further adsorption. However, the adsorptive capacity of active particles can be increased or restored by removing the substance that is blocking or inhibiting the pores. Hence, active particles can be rejuvenated or reactivated.
A common problem associated with active particles is that they may lose activity or become permanently deactivated before, during, or after a process that incorporates the particles into a material. For example, active particles may lose a portion of their activity when exposed to contaminants in the ambient environment prior to being used in a process or during shipment from the active particle manufacturer to the end-user. Regardless of how particle activity is negated or reduced, such negation or reduction thereof may adversely affect the product produced by the process. For example, if particle activity is reduced, heavier particle loading may be required to make up for the reduction in activity, potentially resulting in particle loadings that affect the inherent characteristics (e.g., hand and feel) of the material treated in the process. Moreover, heavier particle loading may require increased binder loadings, which may further affect the inherent characteristics of the material treated in the process. Thus, it will be understood that even the smallest diminution of particle activity may adversely affect the material because of the cumulative affects (e.g., additional particle and binder loadings) stemming from that reduction.
Accordingly, methods and systems for treating the active particles to reduce cumulative effects are needed.